Kasipul Constituency where two sitting MPs – Peter Owidi and Charles Ong’ondo Were — have died in mysterious circumstances.
Kasipul Constituency in Homa Bay County has a grim distinction.
It is one of the few constituencies in Kenya where two sitting MPs – Peter Owidi and Charles Ong’ondo Were — have died in mysterious circumstances.
The tragedies, separated by years but linked by unresolved questions, continue to haunt the region’s political landscape.
The first blow came in 2005 when MP Peter Owidi died at Nairobi Hospital weeks after what his family disclosed resulted from “being poisoned” in a meal of chips and chicken at a restaurant in Nakuru.
At the time, the constituency was named Kasipul-Kabondo, covering Kasipul and Kabondo-Kasipul. The latter is today represented in parliament by Dr Eve Obara.
Also Read: Constituency mourns fallen MP
Mr Owidi’s family at the time confirmed that the late legislator had been travelling by road from Nairobi to his constituency in South Nyanza when he went for a meal at a Nakuru restaurant where he reportedly ate poison in his food.
MP Peter Owidi died at Nairobi Hospital weeks after what his family disclosed resulted from “being poisoned”.
In a politically charged environment at the time, it forced ODM leader Raila Odinga, who was then Roads and Public Works Minister, to explain Mr Owidi’s absence from public meetings.
He had been admitted to the Mater Hospital in Nairobi before he was transferred to Nairobi Hospital, where he underwent an operation on his duodenum.
Leaders attending his politically charged funeral called for a thorough probe into the circumstances surrounding his death, insisting they could not rule out the assassination of the firebrand MP.
Death strikes again
First forward to April 30, 2025, 20 years later, death would strike another Kasipul legislator, Charles Ong’ondo Were.
Mr Were was shot dead in a brazen, gangland-style night attack in Nairobi, a murder that shocked the nation and revived fears over the safety of elected leaders.
Terming his death “targeted and premeditated,” police announced that the second term lawmaker was gunned down when his car stopped at a red traffic light on Ngong road at 7:30 pm on a busy Wednesday.
Kasipul MP Ong'ondo Were was shot dead in Nairobi on April 30, 2025.
“Eyewitnesses have indicated that a motorcycle carrying a rider and a pillion passenger stopped alongside the car. The pillion passenger approached the vehicle and fired shots at the passenger side before jumping back onto the motorcycle and speeding away,” police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said in a statement earlier in the week.
The MP was buried on Friday and detectives say at least 10 suspects are in custody over the killing.
Mr Were was shot on April 30, and the driver of the car and a male passenger, both unhurt, managed to rush the MP to Nairobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor, who conducted an autopsy on Mr Were’s body, revealed that he was shot five times, with three bullets remaining lodged in his body.
“Two of the bullets struck the MP’s left forearm. One exited, but the other remained lodged deep in the same forearm,” he said.
The report also established that two more bullets entered the left side of his chest: one exited on the right, but the other tore through critical organs and lodged in the spine.
“The trajectory of that bullet cut through the heart, lungs, liver and the aorta. An additional bullet entered through the upper back and was found lodged inside. The late Mheshimiwa could not survive the injuries caused by the gunshots. He died from multiple vital organ injuries caused by gunshots, which were a total of five,” Dr Oduor said.
